Anthony Fauci was hospitalized for six days this month after being infected with the potentially deadly West Nile Virus.
Fauci, the former longtime director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, is now back at home getting treatment.
Fauci, 83, who served on the White House Coronavirus Task Force, is expected to make a full recovery, a spokesperson told CNN.
The West Nile virus is the most common mosquito-spread disease in the continental US, with a median of over 2,200 cases being reported every year, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.
About 1,000 people are hospitalized each year with the most severe form of the disease, which if it spreads to the brain and nervous system, can cause brain swelling, brain damage and death with a 3-15 percent mortality rate.
There is no specific treatment for the virus or vaccine, but 80 percent of cases are mild, where sufferers may experience flu-like symptoms or rashes.
The most likely time to contract the virus is in August and September, during the height of mosquito season.
As of August 20, there have been 216 West Nile virus cases in the US across 33 states, according to a CDC tracker.
About 65 percent of the total caseload have been reported to be neuro-invasive.
As early as June, scientists were seeing a much greater number of West Nile virus cases than usual, leading to serious alarm.
Fauci himself addressed the West Nile virus back in 2004, when he was still NIAID director.
Responding to a question from someone on the online ‘Ask the White House’ forum, he wrote that the best way to prevent the virus is through mosquito control.
He added that there were ‘a number of promising candidates’ for a vaccine, but there remains no cure or inoculation for the virus over twenty years after he made this statement.
